#annnnd suddenly the pining for Henry makes even more sense now

[archer-kacey]

Introduction/ The Illusion of Living

Introduction

To clarify, there are two pages of the actual "Introduction", followed by a section labeled "The Illusion of Living," which is ANOTHER introduction. I'm crying.

The FIRST Introduction is all fluff, Joey yaps to his cab driver (just known as "Simmons") and sees a Borzoi, and immediately typecasts it as a villain OC to go up against Bendy. That's it. Next section.

The Illusion of Living [The What]

Joey does a horrible job at giving a simple explanation of the Illusion of Living, but not for the reason you'd think. At first it seems to boil down to "the art of lying" or "joey caps for five years," if you will. He also, unsurprisingly, thinks he's a genius and that his philosophy is a gift to mankind.

"It is a life philosophy, but unlike some of our great past thinkers, I did not come to any conclusion through thought and careful meditation. Instead it was born within me. My whole existence has been shaped around this concept. It just took some time for me to learn how to articulate it to others."

"I've always believed that we can communicate to even the simplest person. Communication is everything."

"We are all dreamers at heart, and I want to make sure that all of your dreams will indeed come true thanks in no small part to my unique insights."

But then Joey says something interesting for once, and it seems to imply that the Illusion of Living is a two-way street. Joey believes that reality is also fiction, but it seems to work in reverse as well.

"So in the briefest of explanations: The Illusion of Living is the art of mimicking real life on the big screen."

Real life ---> Big Screen. So not only is fiction reality, the two are interchangeable.

Illusion of Living [Bendy]

"I am a very self-aware person."

Joey goes on to talk about Bendy, but there's...another aspect I'll be sure to bring up before we close on this section.

"I am not offended that he is first in your heart. He is, after all, first in mine. He was my very first creation- one could even call him my firstborn."

"Bendy is my muse. He is also my messenger. He tells the stories of our lives in absurd, hilarious ways that put all of it into perspective. He reminds us that what we truly need in this world is joy and laughter. Money doesn't matter, power doesn't matter, not when we acknowledge the Illusion of Living."

Nathan adds a footnote here that the Illusion of Living wasn't the only thing important to Joey. He knew the value of a dollar and was a good businessman. So apparently, the money did matter after all. Are we shocked that a Capitalist required money to achieve his goals and aspirations?

"He isnt' real others might argue. Such a ridiculous argument "isn't real." We can see him, we can touch him, kids snuggle with their stuffed Bendys at night. He has more fans than the Marx Brothers! What is real if he isnt'?"

"I tell people that Bendy is the perfect example of my philosophy. He is its manifestation. Or as I like to say, "Dreams come true."

Joey isn't entirely wrong here. We see movie franchises IRL that have a huge influence on pop culture all the time, and we see fandoms and cult followings spring up from said media. The impact is real, if not the characters themselves.

"Your dreams can come true. Because, as I've explained, illusion and reality are the same thing."

Again, the Illusion of Living is an insistence that reality and fiction are one and the same.

I'm going to swap a line from the end of the Bendy section to here, because I want to touch on something I noticed afterwards.

"Now I'm getting ahead of myself. I get excited and tell the story too fast. That's what editors are for I suppose."

Nathan adds a footnote here that IOL went through three different editors, finally landing on the desk of Sandy Pommel (another rando), who opted to put back in a lot of the remarks in order to 'truly capture Drew's charm," as Nathan puts it. (My girl wanted that edit credit so bad lmfao)

ANYWAY, let's take a look at these little slices of IOL I've been saving for last.

"I tell people that Bendy came to me in a dream."

"No, what I had to do was want the dream in the first place. To know that I needed a creation so perfect, so accessible to so many people, that it would help me change the way the world saw itself. That was my dream. I was awake, I knew what I wanted; I made it happen."

He mentions wanting to "change the way the world saw itself" through bendy. Wanting to create a character that was "accessible to so many people." Later in IOL, we see Joey discuss with Abby what he wants Bendy to be like. Not Satan, he specifically clarifies, but an imp-like character, someone mischievous. We know Joey believes reality and fiction can be swapped out for each other, so that could be the world change he was talking about, but I think he also wanted people to recognize their own impish nature- getting into trouble and laughing every once in a while. Or maybe, just maybe, I've been reading the words of Joey Drew for too many hours.

"Only then did Bendy appear to me. Only then did I start working with other artists to make him a reality. But you see, I first made my dream. And then I made my dream come true.

Working with other artists, eh? Like who, Joey?

Also, note the insistence that he created Bendy first, directly after that sentence. As if trying to convince himself that Henry had no part in creating Bendy, and trying to keep his story straight in the way he wants it portrayed to the public.

(This facade later crumbles on page 154, with Joey pretending not to miss or need him at the studio and failing horribly.)

Things get really interesting when Joey describes Bendy's creation. He sees it as his big dream being fully realized. To him, this is also the"birth" of his son, or at the very least, the creation of his muse, messenger, and avenue to tell his stories. "I tell people that Bendy came to me in a dream" is a coverup of course, some smoke and mirrors to convince people that he had an epiphany and came up with Bendy himself, but he also clearly sees it as a wonderful event.

We know Henry created Bendy, of course. We know it wasn't Joey's hand that ultimately struck paper. However, that doesn't make Joey's feelings any less real.

During Bendy's creation, there are two truths happening at the same time to make the full picture. Henry drawing, and hell, maybe Joey bouncing a couple ideas off him. The process takes just minutes, but it feels like hours. Bendy is created, and Joey is there to witness it. And to Joey, it's the most perfect creation in the world. And he's going to share this creation with Henry, this dream with Henry.

I am not being hyperbolic when I say that, to Joey, Henry created his son.

TL;DR The Illusion of Living is Joey's philosophy that reality and fiction are one and the same. Joey wants his OC to be real so bad. Joey views Bendy as his actual son and Henry created him and also Joey was there for his creation so what I'm saying is Henry created a son for his business partner and they were just gonna chill like that until Henry left and broke his heart or something